Middle East Monitor / July 3, 2020
An Israeli report revealed a significant rise in racism against Ethiopian Jews in the country.
Gant Dasa, chief executive of Migrants Together, a non-profit organisation for Ethiopian Jews, said in a report published by Yedioth Ahronoth that “racism is very common among all Israelis. The day I see them protesting against the conditions of the Ethiopian community, then I will start believing that something positive is taking place. I think that there is an opportunity to end some aspects of racism, but it has not happened yet.”
“The Ethiopian settlers migrated to Israel like all the other Jews, in pursuit of a dream of the coming Jewish generations, but this Israel, in which the Jewish community built its life, later turned out to have many other facets.”
I am really worried that my dark-skinned son will grow up in an Israeli society that hates black, in a country where police officers consider coloured people as suspects.
She stressed that “the heartache I feel is getting more real every day. These scenarios have become morning news for the Ethiopians here.”
“This would push angry Ethiopians to protest, as a wave of rage is sweeping the streets of main Israeli cities, after years of continuous frustration due to the police’s offensive and violent practices. Even though the Ethiopian community constitutes only 1.6 per cent of the Israeli public, Ethiopian Jews suffer from a phenomenon that is well known to the American society, where minority groups are being stigmatised due to their dark skin colour.”
11 Ethiopian settlers have been killed by the Israeli police since 1997, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.
